Ruggedizing Health IT
The concept of IT “ruggedization” started in the hardware world. Ruggedizing a laptop, for example, makes it less susceptible to drops and other physical mishaps. Several companies sell add-ons to make hardware more water resistant, shock resistant, scratch resistant, etc. Health IT products used in the field often have ruggedization features. You may one or more ruggedization...
Read MoreNationwide Health Info Network Progress
With the release of a Request for Information (RFI) earlier this month, HHS signaled advancement of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN). According to HHS.gov, the network is a set of standards, services and policies that support trusted health information exchange nationwide. The RFI seeks public comment on NHIN governance, a requirement of the NHIN sponsoring legislation, the...
Read MoreThe Key to Healthy IT Systems
The keys to maintaining personal and public health share commonalities with the keys to maintaining IT system health. The Centers for Disease Control published a list of Local Public Health System Performance Standards which lists 10 essential public health services. The first is monitoring health status. This is the first step in maintaining IT system health too. In our previous post mHealth –...
Read MoreAgile Development: Getting Started
As noted in our last post Is Agile Development Good for Health IT? Agile offers significant benefits to Health IT software developers. What may have come as a surprise is that many organizations that attempt to move from the traditional waterfall approach to Agile have trouble implementing it. Just Google “agile failure rate” to see estimated failure rates of 50% and higher. Some suspect...
Read MoreIs Agile Development Good for Health IT?
Agile software development teams rapidly deliver high quality applications that customers actually use. That’s the promise. The Standish Group has estimated that 64% of software features are rarely – if ever – used and only 20% are regularly used. In Health IT, where software development costs are inherently high, this factor is particularly noteworthy. In addition to the costs of compliance...
Read MoreNew US CTO to Push EHR in the Cloud?
With the White House announcement of Todd Park, HHS Chief Technology Officer (CTO), as the new U.S. CTO, we could see federal EHR initiatives focus more specifically on the cloud. Prior to serving as HHS CTO from 2009 to 2012, Mr. Park founded athenahealth with partner Jonathan S. Bush. The partners had worked at the same consulting firm and both attended Harvard University. Despite leaving the...
Read MoreHealth IT Workforce Shortage?
Widely publicized studies predict a healthcare workforce shortage over the next 8-10 years. Numbers from The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicate that the Health IT workforce accounts for a significant portion of the shortfall. The BLS estimates that 51,000 health IT professionals are needed to meet projected growth in the Health IT industry. The federal government is fueling the growth...
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